March 2012 - Michel TOITOT

By Pierre CHEMIN and Patrick DUBOSC

All along his career, and even when retired, Michel TOITOT, born on January 7, 1927, has been, and is still an esteemed specialist, renowned in the French NDT world, especially when dealing with MT.

We would like to make him better known by our readers.

In the early 70s, Pierre CHEMIN had heard of Michel TOITOT, who worked in the laboratory of the then CREUSOT-LOIRE company, in Le Creusot (France). Pierre CHEMIN was in the first steps of his career; though he often saw Michel TOITOT, he did not dare to approach him, having so much to learn in PT and MT, when Michel TOITOT was already seen as a leader expert in MT.
For Patrick DUBOSC, the first meeting took place in late 1973, in Le Creusot, very early in his own career. Michel TOITOT and his team knew how to make others feel at ease.

Somewhat later, we learned that he had made research on the detection and neutralization of magnetic mines that, even some years after the end of World War 2, floated in numbers just below the surface on many seas and oceans of the Earth. Then, we were told he had been lectured by, and had worked with Professor Louis NÉEL, Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970, as a reward for his work on materials magnetic properties. It was a major factor in Michel TOITOT’s career.

Some more years, and we met him in CAST (Editor’s note: Centre for Scientific and Technical Update), now INSACAST, a subsidiary of the University of Lyon, in France. He was there as an MT trainer, and we, as PT trainers.

We discovered a warm, enthusiastic man who had a passion for NDT and for teaching, a pragmatic scientist, modest but with outstanding teaching abilities, who always knew how to "manage" his audience to be well understood.
When he felt that the attention of his trainees was lowering, he put them back to the course through an anecdote, of which he had an extraordinary stock.

We met him also in other training centres, in which Michel TOITOT was "the master" of MT, and we were the PT specialists. This was a time when no other certification than ASME’s was known.

During conferences held in the 7th International Colloquium "Progrès dans les Méthodes d’Investigation des Métaux et Nouveaux Matériaux" (Editor’s note: "Progress in Investigation Methods of Metals and New Materials") on November 22-25, 1988, the then technical manager of Ardrox France, Pierre PUHARRÉ, gave a lecture titled "Évaluation du porte-barrette à gradient de champ magnétique" (Editor’s note : Evaluation of the magnetic field gradient test block). This block would be the Témoin C in standards to come.

For some time, Michel TOITOT, along with Pierre CHEMIN, co-chaired the PT-MT committee of the then French NDT association, APEND. Patrick DUBOSC was a very active member. This committee addressed a number of issues, in particular, professional ethics rules to be followed by PT/MT chemicals and equipments manufacturers/suppliers in order to provide users with honest and true pieces of information and advice. A worthy task, you bet, in these times, due to some "inappropriate" habits by some suppliers; an understatement, for sure!

From the beginning of the ‘80s, he has been a very active member of the PT/MT committee of AFNOR, the French Standardization Organisation.

Michel TOITOT was very upset by the way he had to "retire," in 1983/1984, when CREUSOT-LOIRE went bankrupt, with some 20,000 people laid-off. Nevertheless, he was very helpful later for many people.

One of the points which made Michel TOITOT well-known in France then was his invention of an MT reference test block, jokingly referred to as the "Toitoscope" by some people.

This reference block, known under its official name as "Témoin C", was introduced and described in the Appendix A of the late AFNOR NF A 09-570 standard, Non-destructive testing - Magnetic particle testing- Characterization of products, July 1988.

In the 90s, a French Company, well-known in the MT world, working with Michel TOITOT, improved the Témoin C and reliably produced it: it could then be used widely in Europe.

In 1997, the COFREND (French Confederation for Non-Destructive Testing) published a book written by Michel TOITOT, titled "Le magnétisme avec ses applications à la magnétoscopie" (Editor’s note:''Magnetism with its applications to magnetic particle inspection''), which is still considered as a basic and a "must-know" nowadays.

In 1999, Michel TOITOT was awarded the COFREND medal for all he brought to MT. So far, only 36 people have been given this recognition. 

In 2002, the Témoin C was introduced as the Type 2 reference test block into the ISO 9934-2:2002standard, Non-destructive testing - Magnetic particle testing - Part 2: Detection media.

Obviously, it is a pity that several of Michel TOITOT’s proposals were not endorsed in European Standards. Michel TOITOT was well (perhaps even too) ahead of his time and was misunderstood by some French and European so-called "experts".

We have been in constant technical contact with Michel TOITOT until the end of 2000.
Keep in mind that during the years when he has been very active, there were neither scientific calculators, nor computers. Michel TOITOT was perfect for carrying out complex numerical calculations with the only tools then available: a pencil and paper sheets, a slide rule, trigonometric tables and decimal/natural logarithms tables.

Over the years, Michel TOITOT has been approachable:

• Patrick DUBOSC got help from him to clarify some difficult points about vocabulary. For instance, only one word exists in English: to magnetize, to characterize what the French wording makes different: "aimanter", which is the fact to magnetize a part through an external action (a current, a magnetic field), and "magnétiser"’, which is the fact that a part keeps a magnetic field (a permanent magnet, called … "un aimant permanent" in French). He was also very critical about using the words "longitudinal magnetization" and "transverse magnetization", which, in fact, cannot be used on many parts, and asked for replacing them by direct magnetization by current flow, and indirect magnetization by magnetic flow - the exact opposite of the Anglo-Saxon terms, leading sometimes to misunderstandings between primes and subcontractors from different countries. Physics was the basis for his choice.

• Pierre CHEMIN has had a lot of "snail-mails" back and forth with him about digital tangential magnetic-field strength meters, a digital meter for the direct measurement of the magnetic flux density, and magnetic flux indicators (Burmah Castrol® flux strips, among others), etc.

Though rewriting history is not that easy, a small group of French experts is now taking the reins, taking advantage of the revision of the MT ISO standards, with a target: pushing for some of Michel TOITOT’s ideas to be put in these standards. Then we could have physics be the basis for easier-to-understand standards, going to what he always worked for.

Indeed, despite the many papers he wrote about MT, he has been almost unheard of in English-speaking countries, as he published in French only.

For the record, he invented things that had nothing to do with NDT: underneath, only one example:

• The "Toitolite", a chemical formula he kept secret; it was designed to give a new life to exhausted lead-acid batteries. However, this "rejuvenating agent" was not supposed to be used with new batteries or batteries still running. The "Toitolite" would then destroy them! Patrick DUBOSC can report that this formula was very efficient. Still secret!

We wish to thank Mrs Suzanne TOITOT and Michel TOITOT’s family for their help in writing this paper.